All this time of playing arpeggios fast, I always thought you had to connect the notes which made me always uncomfortable playing them at a fast tempo. Playing them your way is so helpful. You would have been a lifesaver during college piano jury recitals at my school lol.
I'm what you might call a recreational piano player. I love how you break down proper keyboard technique into primitive elements. When I learned to play (many decades ago) my teacher's approach was more intuitive (if that's the right word). Now that my young grandchildren are asking me for piano lessons, I've quickly discovered that knowing how to play and knowing how to teach are very different skills. Your videos have helped me not make a fool of myself and (more importantly) not frustrate them. Nevertheless, they will be heading to a properly trained teacher if they decide to continue lessons. Then I will be using your videos to better understand and address my own shortcomings as a player (which are myriad).
You’re absolutely right! I hope you find a great teacher for your grandchildren! The first music teacher is super important because they shape how much the student learns and enjoys music.
I will be playing for my Royal Conservatory of Music grade 9 piano exam in June 2024. It’s been 40 years since I last played for my Grade 8 exam. Even though I have played piano for the last 40 years for choirs, weddings, funerals, and community cantatas I went back and started taking lessons again at 58 years old and your videos have helped me tremendously. I have shared some of your videos with my teacher especially the videos on arpeggios. I was always under the impression that you had to connect each note and between your videos and my teacher’s instruction I feel very prepared for the exam. I am even considering continuing my lessons to take my grade 10 and go as far as I can as a pianist. Thank you for all you do for the music community.
I play the video at half speed so i can understand , pick up the information and consequently put it into practice. thanks Dennis for the in depth and total details you provide.
Very good lesson. Sometimes experienced pianists forget or distort what they learned earlier. This is a good reminder for all pianists. I found it very useful and your English is excellent. Thank you.
This more or less covers most of piano technique, tensing the fingertip then relaxing, distributing weight and supporting the fingers with the arms through the knuckle, coordinating movements/gestures, you broke down many important concepts in a short amount of time! Most of piano playing relates to some variation of this whether playing light Scarlatti with a relaxed wrist gently resting on the key and making sure to relax the fingers, or playing more romantic music deep into the keys with relaxed forearms, fingertips of steel well supported by the forearm with lots of weight nice one!
Extremely helpful. I'm surprised by the idea of learning contrary motion before parallel and I love the way you break down the granular detail of each exercise. I'll be applying for techniques from now on.
You are one of the finest teachers I have ever come across, you manner and the practical/useful content. A wonderful player and clear communicator in ways that are helpful, rather than more confusing. The 2 note landing practice would be of great value as an exercise. Arpeggi are one the basic building blocks of music, better know how to do them efficiently. These are simple exercises done with care to specific points. I can also look for these same specific cases in the music, often with intervals other than 3rds and 4ths. Your demo of how to use each finger somewhat differently is helpful, can be thinking about it when working the arps in scores, natural, easy rotation going toward the pinky but absolutely vital going toward the thumb. Working on my first jazz arps where I use hands over. Have to analyze it closely to see most efficient and even, natural feeling, method. Getting more comfortable. I know my technique is good because progress is rapid with all these new things. Your gentle and helpful manner is conducive to keeping the focus on content. Suggestion for other tutorials on the same topic? Didn't yet see the first one, using both hands? But maybe on a specific arp which requires the use of both hands, with intervals added like 2nds and 6ths, which we see frequently in jazz arrangements. Wonderful teacher and player; each top shelf teacher has some individual differences with others on that level-different ways of mastering the same challenging figures. You are in that cream of the crop, top level teachers. Interesting to see how teachers I trust have slightly different modes of approach to the same thing. Never heard of dragging the thumb, all great players have sharp angle down with pinky from the 5 knuckle, which takes a while to develop slowly. This is now pretty consistent with my 5; delivered this way nearly always by getting the forearm in position to rotate over onto it, not just delivered with the finger only. Quite valuable. Thank you for your help. PS: This may be a master class but both less tenured and advanced players can benefit here. Might as well start early and get it right in the beginning. I've had to do a couple technical makeovers to emerge as a more advanced player. The best early proper training would have been more opporutunistic. Better (more efficient) techniques = more one can do in every area.
The arpeggios from beethoven( begin of the video) Request different hands positions in and out and also finger adjustaments.. What the best exercise to achieve this kind of passage? Thanks a lot
Ever think of doing some nice jazz or pop technical lessons? You would have wider appeal, even though all your classical music techniques are equally applicable. Some great stuff is arranged, not just improvised.
Your explain the details very well. As an adult beginner I struggle fitting my fingers comfortably between black keys - any suggestions, or should just try and get used to it?
Thank you very much for these clear & detailed video lessons. Can this technique be applied to short Arpeggios that stay in the same position (like the beginning of the last movement of Beethoven's Op. 2, No. 1) or would that require a different technique?
Thank you, very helpful! Is it very important to practice contrary motion arpeggios? I practice my arpeggios only single handed, but practicing both hands is arguably more useful. (?) What is the reason for that? (I can play scales without looking, but for playing arpeggios I need visual control and contrary motion is therefore really hard for me and to be honest I didn't practice it a lot.)
There is no The Way to learn piano, I simply share what proved to be effective with wide range of students, in my experience! I myself practiced all the possible types of exercises and etudes, but I know some supreme pianists who despised and avoided any kind of purely technical exercises as well (although they are very rare😅)
Denis, the 4th finger is weaker, so I feel like I consciously try to add additional force to get an even sound between each note when playing long arpeggios. However, often, the 4th finger sounds accented and therefore the whole arpeggio doesn't sound smooth. Any tips, on how to avoid this problem?
The unintentional accent with the 4th finger is due to a lack of finger independence. Its less that your consciously putting additional force, but instead you lack control over how much force you play with, so activating your 4th finger is like a binary switch: play full force or not at all. The solution? Play extra slow and fully focus your attention on your 4th finger in playing as lightly and evenly as possible. Also try evenly playing other degrees of loudness. For dedicated players I would recommend finger independence excercises so that you can individually control the dynamics of each finger and combinations of fingers.
@DenZhdanovPianist thanks some very useful tips in ur video, iam humbly speaking a self taught pianist from the age of 15yrs old iam 53yrs old now, I recently taught myself to play the Sonata A major k331 mozart 1st movement theme 6 variations, and 3rd movement rondo alla turca, and also the 1st movement of the f major sonata mozart k332, I am now learning the 3rd movement allegro assai of Mozart sonata f major k332, can these techniques also be applied playing the 3rd movement with the fast runs, I have managed to play right through the 3rd movement, but at the moment it's a bit patchy though I am humbly speaking pleased with my progress, any other tips for playing 3rd movement would be greatly appreciated, greetings from wales uk 😀
Thank you denis, I have been using flipping technique you had demonstrated in your previous tutorials ( my preferred method whenever appropriate) ,and now I will try the technique ( trick! ) with the thumb, so that it doesn’t sound like a big stone falling down,but like a feather as you make it sound .🙏
![[UNBANNED] A SCANDALOUS Theory about Horowitz's peculiar Piano Playing Technique](/img/n.gif)
All this time of playing arpeggios fast, I always thought you had to connect the notes which made me always uncomfortable playing them at a fast tempo. Playing them your way is so helpful. You would have been a lifesaver during college piano jury recitals at my school lol.
Ah, another gem from my piano guru! 🙇♂
You are a great pianist as well as an excellent communicator, your tips are truly precious. Well done
Thank you so much!
Thank you for the invaluable information. I found the last tip (ie landing on 2 notes) especially useful! 😊
Invaluable information. Thank you for posting this video!
I'm what you might call a recreational piano player. I love how you break down proper keyboard technique into primitive elements. When I learned to play (many decades ago) my teacher's approach was more intuitive (if that's the right word). Now that my young grandchildren are asking me for piano lessons, I've quickly discovered that knowing how to play and knowing how to teach are very different skills. Your videos have helped me not make a fool of myself and (more importantly) not frustrate them. Nevertheless, they will be heading to a properly trained teacher if they decide to continue lessons. Then I will be using your videos to better understand and address my own shortcomings as a player (which are myriad).
You’re absolutely right!
I hope you find a great teacher for your grandchildren! The first music teacher is super important because they shape how much the student learns and enjoys music.
Yes, this was what I was missing from the previous video, the long arpeggios going inwards. Thanks!
Thank you for your clear and ergonomic teaching. I never had good instruction and only now trying to learn things more correctly, but also safely.
I will be playing for my Royal Conservatory of Music grade 9 piano exam in June 2024. It’s been 40 years since I last played for my Grade 8 exam. Even though I have played piano for the last 40 years for choirs, weddings, funerals, and community cantatas I went back and started taking lessons again at 58 years old and your videos have helped me tremendously. I have shared some of your videos with my teacher especially the videos on arpeggios. I was always under the impression that you had to connect each note and between your
videos and my teacher’s instruction I feel very prepared for the exam. I am even considering continuing my lessons to take my grade 10 and go as far as I can as a pianist. Thank you for all you do for the music community.
Good luck with your exam!!!🤞🍀🎶
I play the video at half speed so i can understand , pick up the information and consequently put it into practice. thanks Dennis for the in depth and total details you provide.
Glad it was helpful!
Simply the best piano teacher on CZcams!
Wow, thanks!
Thank you so much for great tips. I am practicing Highway Star organ solo.
Great lecture on arpeggio. Thank you
Very good lesson. Sometimes experienced pianists forget or distort what they learned earlier. This is a good reminder for all pianists. I found it very useful and your English is excellent. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for commenting!
This more or less covers most of piano technique, tensing the fingertip then relaxing, distributing weight and supporting the fingers with the arms through the knuckle, coordinating movements/gestures, you broke down many important concepts in a short amount of time! Most of piano playing relates to some variation of this whether playing light Scarlatti with a relaxed wrist gently resting on the key and making sure to relax the fingers, or playing more romantic music deep into the keys with relaxed forearms, fingertips of steel well supported by the forearm with lots of weight nice one!
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation
Thank you ! Such a useful video
Thank you for posting. Always an inspiration!
My pleasure! Thanks for commenting!
Extremely helpful. I'm surprised by the idea of learning contrary motion before parallel and I love the way you break down the granular detail of each exercise. I'll be applying for techniques from now on.
Thamk you so much.
You are one of the finest teachers I have ever come across, you manner and the practical/useful content. A wonderful player and clear communicator in ways that are helpful, rather than more confusing. The 2 note landing practice would be of great value as an exercise. Arpeggi are one the basic building blocks of music, better know how to do them efficiently. These are simple exercises done with care to specific points. I can also look for these same specific cases in the music, often with intervals other than 3rds and 4ths. Your demo of how to use each finger somewhat differently is helpful, can be thinking about it when working the arps in scores, natural, easy rotation going toward the pinky but absolutely vital going toward the thumb.
Working on my first jazz arps where I use hands over. Have to analyze it closely to see most efficient and even, natural feeling, method. Getting more comfortable. I know my technique is good because progress is rapid with all these new things.
Your gentle and helpful manner is conducive to keeping the focus on content.
Suggestion for other tutorials on the same topic? Didn't yet see the first one, using both hands? But maybe on a specific arp which requires the use of both hands, with intervals added like 2nds and 6ths, which we see frequently in jazz arrangements.
Wonderful teacher and player; each top shelf teacher has some individual differences with others on that level-different ways of mastering the same challenging figures. You are in that cream of the crop, top level teachers. Interesting to see how teachers I trust have slightly different modes of approach to the same thing. Never heard of dragging the thumb, all great players have sharp angle down with pinky from the 5 knuckle, which takes a while to develop slowly. This is now pretty consistent with my 5; delivered this way nearly always by getting the forearm in position to rotate over onto it, not just delivered with the finger only. Quite valuable.
Thank you for your help.
PS: This may be a master class but both less tenured and advanced players can benefit here. Might as well start early and get it right in the beginning. I've had to do a couple technical makeovers to emerge as a more advanced player. The best early proper training would have been more opporutunistic. Better (more efficient) techniques = more one can do in every area.
Thanks for your help
This was VERY helpful
Many thanks. Very valuable help and advice!!!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting!
Que aula fantástica!!!
Obrigado por compartilhar!
As usual, the quality of the video is sublime.
Thank you😊
I’ve said it before but I love your tutorials. Bought several of your courses and I learn a lot from them 😊👌
So glad Utube sent my feed of choices YOUR WONDERFUL VIDEO...
THANK YOU SIR FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE YOUR TALENT & EXPERTISE❤
Good reminder.
Thank you very much Daniel. You expressed the ideas very well. I will try to apply this myself.
really wonderful! I love your attention to detail! It is so helpful
A true master !!!
I would love to hear you make a video for Chopin études op. 10 #1 and op. 25# 12. Thanks!
They’re already on the channel
Yes, very helpful! I look forward to learning more from you. I just did you here on CZcams, and I liked and subscribed! Thank you ! 🙏
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you Denis for this video. Very helpful as usual of all, I mean ALL, your videos.
You are very welcome😊
Great masterclass!!!
Thank you for your videos. Appreciate if you can also address challenges of having small hands should you be doing an update.
It’s same motion coordination for most people, but less physical legato, relying on pedal and phrasing instead
Your tutorials are always diamonds! Thank you deeply!
If it’s okay, could you please do a lesson about rapid repeat notes?
There is a tutorial on them in this video: czcams.com/video/UXyy0VJAfb4/video.htmlsi=iVyZAS3-F_Oe7D4i
Great lesson! Thank you!
My pleasure!
Arpeggios are my greatest failure. Thanks for your vid!
Great job but how about wooly bully watch it now 😮
very helpful
The arpeggios from beethoven( begin of the video)
Request different hands positions in and out and also finger adjustaments..
What the best exercise to achieve this kind of passage?
Thanks a lot
Ever think of doing some nice jazz or pop technical lessons? You would have wider appeal, even though all your classical music techniques are equally applicable. Some great stuff is arranged, not just improvised.
Your explain the details very well. As an adult beginner I struggle fitting my fingers comfortably between black keys - any suggestions, or should just try and get used to it?
Can’t answer easily, I myself have slim fingers, and with different students we try different things depending on the root of the issue…
Thank you very much for these clear & detailed video lessons.
Can this technique be applied to short Arpeggios that stay in the same position (like the beginning of the last movement of Beethoven's Op. 2, No. 1) or would that require a different technique?
Yes, absolutely!
Thank you, very helpful!
Is it very important to practice contrary motion arpeggios? I practice my arpeggios only single handed, but practicing both hands is arguably more useful. (?) What is the reason for that?
(I can play scales without looking, but for playing arpeggios I need visual control and contrary motion is therefore really hard for me and to be honest I didn't practice it a lot.)
There is no The Way to learn piano, I simply share what proved to be effective with wide range of students, in my experience! I myself practiced all the possible types of exercises and etudes, but I know some supreme pianists who despised and avoided any kind of purely technical exercises as well (although they are very rare😅)
Denis, the 4th finger is weaker, so I feel like I consciously try to add additional force to get an even sound between each note when playing long arpeggios. However, often, the 4th finger sounds accented and therefore the whole arpeggio doesn't sound smooth. Any tips, on how to avoid this problem?
Tons of practicing and careful listening! If it sounds accented then probably you put more effort in it then needed 😅
The unintentional accent with the 4th finger is due to a lack of finger independence. Its less that your consciously putting additional force, but instead you lack control over how much force you play with, so activating your 4th finger is like a binary switch: play full force or not at all. The solution? Play extra slow and fully focus your attention on your 4th finger in playing as lightly and evenly as possible. Also try evenly playing other degrees of loudness.
For dedicated players I would recommend finger independence excercises so that you can individually control the dynamics of each finger and combinations of fingers.
@DenZhdanovPianist thanks some very useful tips in ur video, iam humbly speaking a self taught pianist from the age of 15yrs old iam 53yrs old now, I recently taught myself to play the Sonata A major k331 mozart 1st movement theme 6 variations, and 3rd movement rondo alla turca, and also the 1st movement of the f major sonata mozart k332, I am now learning the 3rd movement allegro assai of Mozart sonata f major k332, can these techniques also be applied playing the 3rd movement with the fast runs, I have managed to play right through the 3rd movement, but at the moment it's a bit patchy though I am humbly speaking pleased with my progress, any other tips for playing 3rd movement would be greatly appreciated, greetings from wales uk 😀
Thank you denis, I have been using flipping technique you had demonstrated in your previous tutorials ( my preferred method whenever appropriate) ,and now I will try the technique ( trick! ) with the thumb, so that it doesn’t sound like a big stone falling down,but like a feather as you make it sound .🙏